The last two days have been mostly about hard work in the hot sun. Our work project this year was to build a latrine in a mostly Haitian neighborhood in Santiago. The latrine actually had two sides, one for the toilet and one for a shower. To get the project done requires a lot of…
Tuesday – 2022
Today began with the rosary and a cup of coffee, a great start to any day. After breakfast, the team traveled to the city of Santiago, about 45 minutes from our campus, to interact with kids at a sports camp organized by the Mission of Hope and Pastor Elbis. Pastor Elbis is one of the…
4th of July – 2022
Monday- Our theme for the day in the 21 Day Devotional is humility. Humor started the day as Tom played a song for Dave, “Oh Lord It’s Hard To Be Humble.” Laughter is important on mission trips as we never know when our plans change and we need to be flexible. Our day began with…
Sunday – 2022
Sunday during these trips is generally a pretty laid back day with time to acclimate and even play some cribbage. We did start our morning with our daily sunrise rosary. It’s so peaceful and the best way to start the day. Dianne even had a dove land on her this morning right before the rosary,…
Travel Day – Saturday
July 2, 2022 Travel Day 1 – 2 posts below It’s been three long and frustrating years since we’ve been able to go on a Mission Trip. We’ve prayed for our Haitian and Dominican brothers and sisters throughout the pandemic, longing to see them. And now our time has arrived. FINALLY!! As I sit in…
2022 Pre-Trip Reflection
At long last, we are set to return to the Dominican Republic with Mission of Hope next week. We were in the DR in 2019 because of the continuing danger in Haiti, which is still the sad case today. As we were returning from our trip 3 years ago, I included the following in my…
2019 – Homeward bound
We are on the plane heading home from the Dominican Republic. Every year when I make these trips, I realize that there is a lesson that God feels I need to learn as part of my trip. Early in the week, this year’s lesson was loud and clear, I was supposed to TRUST in God’s…
2019 – Friday
As today is the last day of our mission trip and it brings with it much emotion, it makes me ask, “What does it mean to make a difference?” We all strive to make a difference in this world but how do we know if we have made an impact or left a legacy? I…
2019 – Thursday – Happy 4th
As we are nearing the end of the week I am beginning to learn that life with Jesus is a wonderful adventure. One minute your heart is on fire for what He is doing and you may have all these dreams and everything is falling into place. The next minute your dreams are being rerouted…
2019 – Wednesday
Today we felt like we were in our element. We have looked forward to getting our hands dirty since we arrived here last Saturday. We started demoing a tenement-style house. The owner had so few personal items he just placed them in the alley while we worked. Several mission team members along with neighbors pitched…